John Boyega is one of the stars of Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film, Detroit, which focuses on the real-life tragic torturing of young black men in the Algiers Motel in Detroit in 1967. Boyega plays a young security guard who protects a grocery store from looters, and his character walks the thin and flimsy line between his people and the authorities, all of whom are white men. He’s a liaison, if you will.
While his character’s uncertain stance in the movie may frustrate you, Boyega is a different man. He’s not American, but he is black and understands that there are many things wrong with the way police use excessive force in situations when the victim is considered the criminal.
During our interview in Detroit (thanks, Annapurna Pictures!) for the movie of the same name, Boyega opened up about his frustrations over police brutality happening in his own country, the United Kingdom. Rashad Charles was a 20-year-old young black man who was restrained by a white police officer in a convenience store in London on Saturday. Surveillance video captured Charles struggling on the floor under the officer’s brutal hold. Charles was later taken to the hospital, where he died. London is now outraged, and protesters have flooded the streets demanding justice.
We know that police brutality isn’t just an American problem. It seems that we have to remind the entire world that Black Lives Matter. Check out Boyega’s opinions about global police brutality in the video above.